番茄果实选择性剪接事件的鉴定及其调控果实发育的机理研究

信使RNA前体（pre-mRNA）的选择性剪接是真核生物基因表达调控的一个重要机制，它通过增加转录组和蛋白质组的复杂性，参与调控众多植物生长发育过程中的基因表达。番茄作为重要的蔬菜作物和研究果实发育的模式植物，其果实发育过程中先后经历了旺盛的细胞分裂、分化和活跃的次生物质代谢活动，因此番茄果实是研究选择性剪接的良好系统，但目前这方面的研究很少。项目组拟在前期工作的基础上，通过转录组测序系统研究番茄果实发育和成熟过程中的选择性剪接事件，获得番茄果实的选择性剪接“全景图”和果实特异的选择性剪接基因集。同时，通过对果皮特异表达的锌指蛋白编码基因SlPZF1(Solanum lycopersicum Pericarp Specific Zinc Finger Protein1) 的功能研究来阐明选择性剪接在控制番茄果实大小中的重要作用，为遗传改良番茄等农作物的产量和品质等农艺性状提供理论和新途径。

The prevalent alternative splicing of pre-mRNA plays an important role in regulation of gene expression in multicellular organisms through increasing transcriptome and proteome complexity. Tomato, as a important vegetable crop and a research model for fruit development study, is also excellent system for studying alternative splicing because its fruits undergo active cell division and differentiation as well as metabolism during fruit development and ripening. However, how the alternative splicing is regulated during tomato fruit development and ripening is poorly understood. In this proposal, we intend to perform a detailed analysis of the alternative splicing events during tomato fruit development and ripening by high throughput mRNA sequencing. We are expected to obtain the landscape of alternative splicing events in the fruits, and identify genes showing differential splicing during fruit development and ripening. Moreover, we also propose to dissect the roles of alternative splicing in controlling fruit size by functional analysis of the zinc finger protein encoding gene SlPZF1 (Solanum lycopersicum Pericarp Specific Zinc Finger Protein1) mainly expressed in fruit pericarps, which underwent alternative splicing during early fruit development. The new findings obtained from this project may provide new strategies for genetic improvement of yield and quality traits in tomato and other crops.